Precision Grinder Gives Hammer Mill its ‘Impact’ Edge

In many industries, hammer mills are vital for pulverizing materials to precise specifications. Achieving this precision is no small feat. The mills employ a host of swinging hammers that must be carefully ground to specific weights and shapes for optimal performance and safety. The hammers are subjected to continuous wear, so their tips are hardened, requiring meticulous grinding to maintain the exacting balance and clearance within the mill’s chamber.

Pulva, a company specializing in these high-wear parts, utilizes advanced rotary surface grinders to achieve these meticulous standards. These grinders precisely shave down the welded hardened material on the hammers, maintaining very tight tolerances that are crucial for the mill’s performance and durability.

The advanced grinders feature automated controls for consistency and precision, removing material to within one ten-thousandth of an inch. The machines are a key technology for grinding to achieve high-quality finished hammers with great consistency.

To ensure absolute consistency of size and weight of the hammers installed on new equipment, Pulva has relied on advanced rotary surface grinders from Winona, MN-based DCM Tech, a designer and builder of industrial rotary surface grinders.

“DCM Tech’s rotary surface grinders surface the tip of our hammers down to a specific size, shape, and dimension, which gives us a really good impact edge. The surface grinders take the hardened welded material down to exactly what we need for the hammers,” says Dave Hahn, Lab Manager, Pulva.

Automatic part detection eliminates the need for the operator to do time consuming, error prone ‘manual touch offs’ where they would manually feed the grinding machine until it just touches the surface of the part before backing off and restarting it.

The rotary surface grinding process consistently achieves high throughput and eliminates variability, which enables Pulva to achieve high-quality finished hammers with great consistency.

According to Hahn, the advanced rotary surface grinder arrived “robot ready,” allowing Pulva to incorporate robotic elements when needed in the future.

For more information, call (800) 533-5339, email [email protected], visit www.dcm-tech.com.